The Reading Diva

Since I wrote a blog post. Between moving, classes, getting ready for a new boss and other things that have happened in this thing we call life, I haven't had time to post. I hope to post more often in the future. I'm going to try to do this once a week (hopefully more). Even with all of this, it seems like my reading has actually speed up. I have completed almost 50 books so far this year, compared to about 70 all of 2009. I don't think I can get to 100 (and not going to try), but I think 80 may be feasible, depending on my schoolwork. I just finished reading a book called Queen Pin . It's about a women who was a major drug dealer in LA back in the 80s and found God while spending over a decade in prison. Short read, but nothing to write home to. Do you like the new look? I do! I didn't like the pink background (must be the Delta in me) and when I saw that I could change it to red, I was very happy. I also like the background print as well. I'm still considerin...

As some of you may know, I an currently working on a Master's Degree in Library Science. So when I heard about This Book is Overdue!: How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All , I wanted to see what it was about. Through this post, I am going to tell people who I interact with and you why you should read this book. Why my coworker Candace should read this book: There is a chapter about tattooed librarians. And you are a tattooed librarian! The tattooed librarians in this books participate hang out with each other and participate in book cart performances. This sounds cool! Why my professor Dr. Tu should read this book: There's this huge chapter about Second Life! You have been telling me how you can do virtual reference with Second Life, but I didn't know that a lot of the virtual librarians hang out with each other and provide help to hundreds of avatars per day! I think it should be mandatory for you to read this! Why the archivists at my job should read this book: Th...

Yesterday, I got an email that Blair Underwood is coming to one of the Books A Million in Columbia on next Tuesday (May 25). He is promoting his new book From Cape Town With Love from the Tennyson Hardwick series, which I love. But that has me wondering: Why aren't the African American authors coming to Charleston anymore? At one time, they did. A lot of them came to the Books A Million at Northwoods Mall. Several years ago, I remember standing in line to meet E. Lynn Harris when I Said A Little Prayer came out. I also remember meeting Essie Mae Washington-Williams and Omar Tyree (who was happy to sign my first edition copy of Flyy Girl ). But sometime last year, it all stopped. In recent months, I have received emails about book events, but they all have been out of town. I do admit that I have met a lot of authors, but also a lot of the time I've had to travel to meet them. I have met some during the South Carolina Book Festival in Columbia. I have also met authors when I ...

Every morning when I drive to work, I listen to the Steve Harvey Morning Show. One day early last week, Shirley Strawberry and Steve were talking about an event Steve did the previous weekend and the plans that it will air on ABC's Nightline. It is a part of their "Face-off" series and this new discussion, which was filmed in Atlanta, is called " Why Can't A Successful Black Woman Find a Man?" There was a panel for this event, which includes Jacque Reed and The View's Sherri Shepard. But the women didn't catch my attention (no disrespect to them). It was the men's portion of the panel that did. Including Steve, there was Hill Harper and jimi izrael. As one of the 43 percent of the African American women who have yet to be married, I wanted to see what I can do so I won't be a part of that 43 percent anymore. And one of the things I did was read. So I read all three of the gentlemen's book I just mentioned. I read Steve's book Act Like...

Aphrodite Jones is one of the reasons why I love true crime. One of the first true crime books I read was All She Wanted , which was the story of Teena Brandon, who was killed because she was transgender. The case became the basis for the Oscar-winning movie Boys Don't Cry . Now Jones, who has done trial commentary for a number of TV shows and was a frequent guest on The Montel Williams Show , has a show of her own. On her show True Crime with Aphrodite Jones , Jones get to examine famous crimes that has captured the nation's attention the last 20-plus years. Her first episode will be about Scott Peterson (who killed his wife Laci and their unborn son). Future episodes will feature cases involving OJ Simpson (the second time around), the Menendez brothers and Michael Jackson's child abuse scandal (one of her most recent books examined the case and how much of a joke it was). True Crime will premiere Thursday (March 11) at 10 p.m EST on Investigation Discovery. For more inf...

This weekend (February 27-28) marks the return of the South Carolina Book Festival in Columbia. Many well-known and up-and-coming authors will be there. Several African-American authors will be there including Francis Ray, Clarence Nero and Tiffany Warren. Trista Thomas, author of the "Napply" series was suppose to be there, but I just saw on the festival's Web site that she has canceled. :-( Because of this, I may not go. But I don't rule out the possibility. Most of the events will be at the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center. For information, visit their Web site at http://www.scbookfestival.org/ . ETA 3/4/10: I did attend the SC Book Festival on 2/28 (Sunday). I hope to have the story and pictures up here by the end of the week. I've been busy with school and work lately.

Hello!! My name is Maya and I am your Reading Diva. I will be writing book reviews, giving you information about books (and events involving books) and other information that I would like to share. I will mostly be focusing on African-American literature (no Urban Lit, yuck), but I will also write about true crime, biographies and any other book that I find interesting. I do have some plans for this blog, such as a book club, but those will be in the future. I live in the beautiful state of South Carolina, where there are smiling faces, beautiful places and Republican leaders who like to find ways to embarrass us. Ever since I was a little girl, I have always love the written word. I love it so much that I graduated from the University of South Carolina with a degree in journalism. When that didn't work out, I decided to go back to Carolina and now I am working on a Master's degree in Library Science. Besides reading, I like to write, do volunteer work, surf on the Inter...